Chapter b13 /b

bJessica /bfrowned, guessing Gabri, who was on the other end of the line, had probably heard Brian shouting. She instinctively ended the bcall/b.

Brian’s mood bgot /bbeven /bworse when he saw her hang up. He thought, ‘Who bwas /bshe talking to?”

He nced at the divorce agreement he’d just mmed down in front of her. To his surprise, bJessica /blooked unusually calm.

“Did you sign it?” Her tone bwas /bbt/b, like she bwas /basking something trivial.

Brian’s bbrows /btwitched. He couldn’t tell if he bwas /bangry or amused, or if Jessica was just doing ball /bthis to spite him. He asked again, “You’re really giving up Jacob? The son you carried for nine months and gave birth to?”

“That’s right.” She looked up at him.

Her eyes had always been crystal–clear and luminous, like sunlight filtering through spring water–pure and untroubled. But now, when he looked her in the eyesb, /bthere wasn’t a trace of affection in them.

She said evenly, “I don’t want him anymore. Jacob doesn’t like me bas /bhis mom anyway.” But even as she said it, she bwas /bstill heartbroken.

Brian felt something tighten in his chest. He frowned. “Jake’s too young to understand how those words might hurt you. No matter what, you’re still his mom.”

He didn’t understand how someone like Jessica, who once treated Jacob like her whole world, could suddenly say she didn’t want him anymore.

“Why are you holding a grudge against your own son? You don’t need to take things so personally with a bsix/b–year–old,” Brian said.

He carried himself with a quiet, refined aloofness. Even the slightest furrow of his brows made him seem especially distant. Right now, he looked like he hadpletely run out of patience with Jessicab. /bHe was ming her for being petty with her bsix/b–year–old son.

Jessica pressed her lips together, the color draining from them.

Brian remarked, “Enough. Don’t bring up divorce again. I don’t want to hear it ba /bsecond time.”

He turned to leave, but Jessica stepped in his bway/b. “I meant it when I said I wanted a divorce.”

She handed him the divorce papers. “Sign it. I want this done as soon bas /bpossible.”

The veins bulged on Brian’s forehead. “bJessica/bb, /bwhat the hell are you trying to pull? Are you done yet?”

Furious, he snatched the divorce papers from her and tore them to shreds right in front of her. “I said we’re not getting divorced. Don’t ever bring it up again.”

Brian, in angerb, /bscattered the shredded divorce agreement bacross /bthe floor.

bJessica /bremainedpletely calm. She looked straight at Brian’s cold, gloomy face and said firmly, b“/bbIf /byou won’t sign, then I’ll see you in court. I don’t mind taking this divorcewsuit public and making ba /bscene out of it.”

“Do you even realize what you’re saying?” Brian’s gaze turned stony. He grabbed bJessica’s /bwrist and grumbled coldly, “bAre /byou so bset /bon getting a divorce because there’s someone else? Is it thatwyer who’s helping you with the divorce?”

Jessica found him ridiculous and tried to pull her hand back. But the more she struggled, the tighter Brian gripped.

bHer /bface turned pale from the strain, and when she couldn’t hold back ba /bcry of pain, Brian finally calmed down a little and let go. A crimson bruise circled her slender wristb, /bstanding out sharply.

b“/bbI/bb…/bb” /bBrian’s eyes darkened slightly bas /bhe reached out, but bJessica /bpulled away.

She turned her bface /bto the side and said coldly, “Get out.”

“Jessi- Brian started.

“Get bout/bb,/b” bJessica /bbcut /bin and turned baway /bfrom him stubbornly.

Brian only bcaught /ba glimpse of her profile bas a /bsingle tear slid quickly down her cheek. The hand he bhad /bbreached /bout clenched into a fist, then loosened, then tightened bagain/b. In the end, he turned and left with a dark expression.

As soon as he bwas /bgone, Jessica roughly wiped her btears /bbaway/b, hating herself for being bweak /benough to cry in front of Brian again.

It took her a while to pull herself together, and only then did she notice that Gabri had called her bover /ba dozen times while all that bwas /bhappening. She figured Gabri must bhave /bheard bwhat /bBrian bhad /bsaid.

bJessica /bbsteadied /bbherself /band called her bback/b.

NAA